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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29270796">Say You'll Stay With Me Tonight</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarisiIsMyHomeBoy/pseuds/CarisiIsMyHomeBoy'>CarisiIsMyHomeBoy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Draco Malfoy - Freeform, Draco is Sad, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts, PTSD, Pining, Platonic Hand Holding, Post DH, Slytherin Reader, after the war, draco deserves all the love, draco has regrets, gender neutral reader (I think?, i've just been in my draco feels okay, sorta - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:34:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,019</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29270796</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarisiIsMyHomeBoy/pseuds/CarisiIsMyHomeBoy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The war may be over, but some of its survivors have a long road to healing ahead of them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Draco Malfoy/Reader, Draco Malfoy/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Say You'll Stay With Me Tonight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Also posted on my tumblr, carisiismyhomeboy.tumblr.com</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The war was over.</p><p>After years of fear, hatred, and death. After countless late-night, hushed discussions between your parents, strange men in black robes visiting your home and the rise and fall of Him, it was over. The wizarding world could breathe a collective sigh of relief as you all stood in the Hogwarts courtyard, overlooking while Harry Potter defeated Voldemort, once and for all. There would be no third coming of the great Lord Voldemort. He was gone, reduced to dust and a heinous memory. </p><p>Most cheered the victory, while others looked on mourning the fallen. Some, mostly ministry officials, went right on to their work; rounding up the remaining Death Eaters and counting the dead. Students hugged friends in celebration, while others cried for the ones they’d lost too soon. You, however, had only one mission: finding Draco.</p><p>The two of you had fought the second half of the battle side by side. You had grown up together, it seemed only fitting that you would most likely die together in the carnage. Yet by some stroke of luck, you both had survived. At least until Voldemort came back from the forest, Potter’s limp body hanging from Hagrid’s hands. </p><p>It killed you to see Draco walk to His side. Deep down, you knew he was only doing so because of his mother, but it hurt all the same. You wanted so badly to call out to him; beg him not to go, but the green emblem on your school sweater made you a prime recruit for Voldemort, so you forced yourself to stay quiet and hidden. All you could do was silently will Draco to stand up for himself, to stay and fight, but ultimately you had to watch as he walked away. However, just when it seemed like all hope was lost, Potter jumped from Hagrid’s grip, and you watched as Draco tossed him his wand. </p><p>That was the last time you had seen Draco, and given that he had helped Harry Potter right in front of Voldemort, it was safe to assume Draco was dead. The thought alone filled you with dread unlike any you’d ever felt.</p><p>You roamed the corridors, ignoring the stares of passersby. You knew you were a spectacle; your fellow wizards and witches were judging you based simply on your House at the school you fought to protect only moments ago. Never mind the fact that you had fought a war primarily based on judgments and prejudice. You fought for the light, for Potter; you were even prepared to fight against your own parents, yet people still only saw you as a Slytherin, child of a Death Eater, a bad person. </p><p>You forced yourself to stop thinking about that and focus on the task at hand. Eventually you reached the Great Hall, thankful you didn’t see his body among those that had been found. You looked for people you were friendly with; Lovegood, Blaise, but no one knew where Draco was. The feeling in your gut only worsened as you worked with your former classmates until late into the night, with no sign of Draco Malfoy. </p><p>-</p><p>It had been a week since the battle. </p><p>Countless hours listening to reports of bodies found in the wreckage at Hogwarts. Reading about Azkaban sentences and acquittals and how the school was rebuilding. Learning that the Malfoys were cleared of all charges and seeing their photo in the Prophet gave you some relief in knowing that Draco was alive, but you decided to keep your distance for a while. Let him decompress. Things had become strained between you since your sixth year, and the last thing you wanted to do was bombard him.</p><p>But, you were restless and needed to see him. </p><p>After a week of hiding out in your home, you apparated to the manor. As you made your way to the huge double doors, memories flooded your mind of your time here. Learning to fly with Draco in the backyard. Studying constellations on clear nights. Dancing in the vast ballroom of the manor at a Christmas soiree Narcissa put on in your fifth year.</p><p>Your thoughts were interrupted by one of the large doors swinging open before you even made it to the door knocker and you were greeted by a house elf, who seemed to remember you. </p><p>“He’s in the study,” you heard the house elf squeak out as he let you in, then quickly disapparate. It had been years since you’d set foot in the manor, but the memories of its long halls and hidden rooms were still clear in your mind. Following the dark hallway, you remembered running through these halls with Draco as children, playing tag without a care in the world.</p><p>Oh, how you’d wish to go back to those simpler times. Before all of the chaos and despair. </p><p>You shook those thoughts away as you neared the entryway of the study. It was eerily quiet, the only sound the faint crackling of a fireplace. You crossed the threshold and saw Draco, or at least part of him. He was sitting on a large sofa with his back to the entryway, his platinum hair the only part of him you could see. You thought it best not to sneak up on him, given everything he’d been through over the past couple years, so you stood back and called his name as softly as you could.</p><p>“Draco.”</p><p>Before you uttered the last syllable, he was on his feet, wand pointed directly at you, with a look in his eyes that you could only describe as pure fear. </p><p>“Oi! It’s only me, mate. It’s okay.” You held your open palms up in surrender, waiting for him to realize that you weren’t a threat. He slowly lowered his wand, shoulders sagging just enough to let you know he was okay. You stepped forward cautiously, until he set his wand on the seat next to his.</p><p>“How’d you get in?”</p><p>“Your house elf still remembers me.” He nodded once, just barely, and once again took his seat on the sofa. God, he looked thin. He’d always had a slender frame, but he never looked this sickly; not even when you had fought by his side only days ago. His cheekbones and chin were more pointed than ever, and the dark circles under his eyes has never been more pronounced. Even his hands looked thinner. </p><p>Guess that’s what living with the embodiment of evil for a year does to you. </p><p>“Where’s Narcissa and Lucius?” You asked, taking your seat in the plush armchair next to the sofa. </p><p>“Left the country on holiday. They wanted to ‘get away from it all,’ as they put it.”</p><p>“And they left you here alone?” You questioned. Draco only shrugged, his eyes never leaving the flames of the fire across from him. </p><p>You weren’t looking at the fire, though. Instead, your eyes were on him. This wasn’t the boy you’d known. The boy you’d loved since you were twelve. This was a ghost of him. You suspected the boy you loved had been dying a slow death ever since Voldemort had come to him with an offer he, quite frankly, could not refuse even though he’d wanted to. </p><p>What do you say in this situation? ‘How are you?’ 'What’s on your mind?’ Everything that came to mind seemed stupid and pointless, so you settled for staying silent. </p><p>Thankfully, Draco broke the silence before you had to. “Have you heard from your parents?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Are they alive?”</p><p>“I’m not sure.”</p><p>“That doesn’t bother you?”</p><p>“They would have murdered me without a second thought if they knew I was fighting for the light so no, not really.” Your eyes fell to his left forearm; he was fiddling with his sleeve and it had rolled up just enough to see the very bottom of the Dark Mark. </p><p>Draco noticed you staring and lifted his sleeve even more, allowing you to see the mark in its entirety. It was an open secret in Slytherin that Draco had taken the mark. He never talked about it, but you all knew it was there. Still, to see it for yourself; to see that ugly stain on his skin made your stomach turn.</p><p>“I’ve thought about trying to cut it off, you know,” he said, so nonchalantly he could have been talking about the weather outside. However the weight of his words hit you like a freight train, and you felt the breath being sucked out of your lungs. You were at a complete loss for words. Do you tell him that it pained you to imagine a world without him? That even though things had gotten so strained between the two of you, you couldn’t bare the thought of losing him like that? Do you tell him that, in spite of all the bad he had done, you had always seen the good he could have been, given the chance?</p><p>“Draco, what-”</p><p>“It’s-it’s not like I want to not be here anymore. I’m just tired. Tired of looking at this bloody thing and being reminded of all the pain I’ve caused.”</p><p>“I’m willing to bet you didn’t have a choice.”</p><p>His eyes snapped to you, and you noted the shine of fresh tears threatening to spill over red-rimmed eyes. “You don’t know what I’d been tasked to do. I let them into the school, I was supposed to kill Dumbledore, I-”</p><p>“So, why didn’t you do it? Kill him, I mean.” You already knew the answer, but you wanted to hear it from him. </p><p>He hesitated, trying to keep his voice steady while tears trickled slowly down his cheeks, “I never wanted this to happen. I thought I did, when I was younger. But, I never wanted people to die, I never wanted any of it.“ </p><p>"Draco, you’re just a boy who grew up with an ego the size of the moon and a terrible role model for a father. You weren’t a bad person growing up, you were just an ass with a legacy to live up to. And as far as this death eater shit, I know you wouldn’t have done it if you had a choice. It was your father’s actions that brought you to that point, Draco. I’m sure of it.” You paused as a tear of your own escaped, but you continued on. “And, when it really mattered, you helped the light. Or did I just imagine you hexing Death Eaters next to me, or tossing Potter your wand?”</p><p>“So, you’re trying to say that I’m a good person, even after all of this?”</p><p>“Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”</p><p>He chuckled, actually chuckled at your last statement. “Thank you.”</p><p>“You know I meant every word,” you replied, hoping he believed you. Once again, silence fell over the room, only this time it was a calm, comfortable one. You wanted to stay with him; hell, you’d stay forever if he would ask you to, but you weren’t sure if that’s what he wanted. You sure as hell weren’t going to ask to stay, so you stood to leave.</p><p>“Well, now that I’ve stroked your ego and raised your spirits a bit, I think I’m going to go,” you said, a test to see how he’d react. You stepped over his outstretched legs to leave, but he grabbed your hand, his skin icy even after sitting by the roaring fire.</p><p>“Stay, please?” He whispered, just loud enough for you to hear. The pain and loneliness he was feeling was evident in his voice, and of course, you weren’t going to say no. </p><p>So you nodded and took a seat again, this time on the sofa right next to Draco. You expected him to let your hand go, but instead he laced his fingers with yours. You felt a smile tugging at the corners of your lips as the two of you looked on at the fire.</p><p>In that moment, you felt peace, and for the first time in a long time, you felt that maybe, one day, all would be well.</p>
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